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I have been talking about Amazon Prime Wardrobe here on the blog since the news first came out this past fall. I knew this could mean something big for plus sizes, especially for those of you who live in areas where plus size clothing is just not that accessible. I know from personal experience that if you have a limited budget for clothing, it can cause a lot of anxiety when you want to try a new brand but have no way to try it on before buying.

So I wanted to make sure I shared my first experience with Amazon Prime Wardrobe so you can see exactly how it works and what I thought of the options available. So this will be part review and part explanation. I will also be sharing more in the future, but most likely those will just be strictly about the clothing and not as much about how it works.

How Prime Wardrobe Works

Prime Wardrobe works pretty simply, but you must have a credit card on file with Amazon to place an order. Unfortunately a debit card or prepaid debit card will not work, it must be an actual bank issued credit card.

First you can either search directly through Prime Wardrobe available items, or you can just look for the Prime Wardrobe badge on items as you shop. You need to add at least three items to your cart that are Prime Wardrobe eligible. And I believe eight items are the limit. There is actually a separate cart that your Prime Wardrobe items go into. So don’t be surprised when they don’t show up in the regular area that you check out in.

Once you have selected your items and checked out, they will be shipped to you. Some items may be shipped separately, but your try on period does not begin until you have all items in your possession. The try on period is seven days. Just be careful not to remove any of the tags. And this is just for try on. They are not meant to be worn.

During the seven day try on period you can decide what you want to keep and what you do not. Though you can absolutely send things back before the seven days is up. Once you decide what you want to keep, you wrap everything back up and put it in the easy seal reusable box it was sent in. Put the provided return label on the box. And then simply drop the box off at your local UPS or UPS Store.

What I Ordered

I want to share here what I ordered to try on. In this section I am sharing the pictures from Amazon, and I will share my own pictures a little later.

How Your Package Arrives

Your Prime Wardrobe order doesn’t come in the typical Amazon box or bubble mailer. All items come in a box like this:

Now you want to make sure you open these the way Amazon intended because you will be reusing these boxes and if you don’t open them the right way it could ruin it. There is actually a pull tab that you rip on one side. Then when you open it up you see there is a second sealable closure so the box can be reused for shipping items back.

Inside the box, here is how it is packed:

You get the little booklet telling you what to do with the items and how to return anything. And inside is also return labels, so make sure you don’t toss this in the trash. And as you can see there is also plenty of the air packs included to keep items from shifting around too much during the shipping process.

You see that I received two boxes. My order was shipped in two parts. Now I don’t really have a problem with them shipping these items separately, but I do have a problem with what was shipped in the second box. In the second box was my necklace. That is all, just the necklace. The reason I have a problem with that is these are big boxes, and not just big but thicker than the average Amazon box. I really dislike being wasteful like this.

Trying Everything On

I have pictures of everything except for the Jessica Simpson dress, in this case I was sent the wrong item and in the wrong size. Most items I have pictures of it on me, but there is one pair of shoes I did not put on for pictures. If you have been following my All Dress April posts, then you may have already seen some of these pictures.

Here I have on the Tiana B dress paired with the Naturalizer Sandals. And here is a closer look at the Sandals:

I did not keep either of these items. The shoes, while extremely comfortable were just a little too loose on me. I ordered them in 9W, and I think I would have needed a medium width in these. If they are still available when I get my next box I may try them in the medium width. The dress fit comfortably, but I felt it just wasn’t the best look for me. If it had been cut a little different I probably would have kept this.

Here I am wearing the Lark & Ro dress with the Panacea Necklace. And here is a closer look at the pendant on the necklace:

Again, the pictures are just not doing this justice. It is an unbelievably beautiful necklace. And I did end up buying the necklace. The dress I thought looked great on, but the fit just was not good for me. It wasn’t tight or anything, but because of the cut combined with the type of fabric used it didn’t work well with a larger bust. So if I raised my arm the whole dress raised up way too high. I think this would be perfect for someone with a smaller bust than me.

This is one of the two items I did not take pictures of on me. That is because even though I ordered a 9W, as I did with the other pair, it was extremely tight. The other item was the third dress ordered, but as I said earlier, they sent the wrong dress and wrong size.

Sending Things Back

The process of sending things back is really quite easy and does not cost you anything. You just pack everything back in the box provided. And if you got your items in multiple shipments you can totally put all of your items in one box, assuming they fit. You seal it up using the easy seal strip, simply peel off strip the plastic strip and then press the box lid down. Affix the label, and it is ready to go. You just have to drop it off at UPS. This part was super convenient for me since my mail box is at the UPS store.

Before your try on period ends, and before sending everything back I do recommend you log in and use the checkout. This is simply you letting them know what you are keeping and what you are sending back. If you do not do this you will be charged and then refunded when they receive the items back. But if you use the checkout you are only charged for the items you are keeping and don’t have to worry about waiting for a refund.

Final Thoughts

Before I tried Amazon Prime Wardrobe I thought this had the potential to be great. After trying it, I think it is currently a good service that still has the potential to be great. I think this works better for me than similar services out there right now.

I have tried a couple of clothing boxes where you try on and send back, but they all choose for you and charge $20 styling fees each time. After trying those multiple times I have yet to receive items I actually would purchase from either of the ones I tried. But with Prime Wardrobe you choose what you want to try yourself, and there is no additional fee beyond what you pay for a Prime Membership.

There are definitely areas Amazon could improve on. The plus size selection is slim, especially when it comes to the more affordable options. I have been told they are planning on increasing the selection, not just for plus size but all sizes. I would like to see them have an option for post office drop offs for anyone who may not have a UPS in their town. And I hope they work out a way that would make it possible to use a debit card for the transaction, that way it could be more accessible to everyone. But only time will tell what sort of improvements are actually going to happen with this service.

Let me know in the comments if you have tried Amazon Prime Wardrobe yet and what you thought.

I am sure at this point that if you use Amazon, or maybe even if you don’t, you have at least heard about Amazon Prime. And the majority probably know at least the basics of what you get with it. But for anyone who is not familiar some of the more popular features are:

Kindle First – Choose one Kindle book of the six Picks each month for free

Prime Reading – Enjoy unlimited reading on any device

And they have so much more. For a complete list of what you get with Amazon Prime, you can view that here.

It seems like Amazon is constantly adding new features for their members, and surprisingly not raising the price of membership. If you are not already a prime member, Amazon’s latest announcement of what they will be offering soon should have you running to sign up if you are a plus size woman. Coming soon is Amazon Wardrobe, where you try before you buy and free easy returns. Currently it is still in the beta stage and by invitation only, but you can sign up to be notified when it goes live.

It will work very much like many of the online styling boxes, except you will be the one picking what you try, and there is no extra cost over your prime membership. Here is how it is going to work.

Pick three or more items from across clothing shoes and accessories.

You have a seven day try on period to find the best fit at home.

Only pay for the items you keep, and return using the free label and box provided.

As someone who hasn’t had great success with those subscription styling boxes, I can’t wait to see how this service plays out with Amazon. I really think its a must have for plus size women because of the doubt it removes in the purchasing process. No longer do you have to worry about sizing being wrong on Amazon and the difficulty of trying to return it. What a relief it will be to so many people. I do hope that name brands will be included, but only time will tell.

Tell me in the comments what you think about this new benefit from Amazon Prime. Will you be using the service? Has this convinced you to sign up for Prime?